GOVT’S CHALLENGE: A POSITIVE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX

As a nation committed to attaining a positive Human Development Index (HDI) and high quality growth by 2022, we ought to understand the prospects of achieving this.
Is the government budget going to deliver such qualities by 2022? The answer to such a question depends on understanding what we mean by positive HDI and quality growth.

High quality growth is growth that is sustainable in the face of external shocks; accompanied by adequate investment (including in human capital to lay the basis for future growth); respectful of environmental and national concerns; and consistent with policies that reduce poverty and improve equity.
Policies that reduce poverty and improve equity are important for a variety of reasons. Reducing poverty and promoting an equitable distribution of income are important objectives in their own right, but they can also serve other objectives.

The macroeconomic and structural policies to promote sustainable growth, which may include some painful but necessary measures, typically require broad domestic political support. Such support is more likely to be forthcoming when the course of economic adjustment is perceived by the population as fair and socially just.
Sustained growth is an important element in reducing poverty in a meaningful way. But experience worldwide teaches that growth is often not enough to move a substantial portion of the population out of poverty or to improve the distribution of income. Growth has to be accompanied by policies that also benefit the least fortunate. In fact, equity-oriented polices that lead to more investment in human capital can reduce poverty through a synergy of growth and equality; greater investment in human capital enhances the growth potential, and targeting these expenditures at the poor enhances their chances to seize economic opportunities and improve their standard of living.

To complete the nation’s role in the economy, the government needs a generation of sound fiscal policies accompanied by appropriate social policies and measures to achieve good governance. Of particular importance is the establishment of simpler, more transparent, regulatory systems that are equitably enforced and help to reduce corruption, as well as an improvement in the efficiency and equity of public expenditure and tax systems.

Expenditure

A central ingredient in efficient and equitable expenditure policies is the trimming of unproductive expenditures. A shift in public expenditures towards primary education and basic health care can promote both equity and high quality growth. On the path to prosperity, we also have to improve our Human Development Index (HDI) which is a tool to measure and rank a country’s levels of social and economic development based on life expectancy, educational attainment and gross national income per capita.

A new and positive HDI will make it possible for the government to track changes in development over time. Our new HDI has to measure the wellbeing and access to opportunity of each and every Swazi citizen. The government should take seriously that long and healthy lives, access to knowledge and a decent material standard of living are the basic building blocks of well-being and opportunity. These three core capabilities are universally valued around the world.
The government should take note that the most valuable capability that people possess is to be alive and healthy. Advancing human development requires, first and foremost, expanding the real opportunities people have to avoid premature death by disease or injury; to enjoy protection from arbitrary denial of life; to live in a healthy environment; to maintain a healthy lifestyle and to receive quality medical care.

Access to knowledge is the critical determinant of long-term well-being and is essential to individual freedom, self determination and self sufficiency. Education is critical to peoples’ real freedom to decide what to do and who to be. Education builds confidence, confers status and dignity and broadens the horizons of the possible, as well as allowing for the acquisition of skills and credentials.
Income is essential for a society to meet basic needs like food and shelter and to move beyond these necessities to a life of genuine choice and freedom. Income is a means to a host of critical ends, including a decent education; a safe, clean living environment; security in illness and old age; and a say in the decisions that affect one’s life.

The government should bear in mind that our capabilities to obtain a positive HDI are expanded or constrained by our own efforts and by the institutions and conditions of our society. People with extensive, well developed capabilities have the tools they need to make their vision of a ‘good life’ a reality. Those poor in capabilities are less able to chart their own course and to seize opportunities. As the Swazi nation we have to be clear that without basic capabilities, human potential remains unfulfilled.

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